Benjamin (Ben) York joined Spirit of America in August 2022 as the Regional Program Manager for Africa. Prior to joining the Spirit of America team, Ben served as the Global and Regional Security Director at World Vision International, one of the largest humanitarian aid organizations operating in more than 100 countries. In this role, Ben helped provide strategic, technical, and operational leadership for the organization’s security management framework, covering nearly 8,000 staff working in fragile states such as the Central African Republic, Mali, Chad, Niger, and Burkina Faso. He also served as a Senior Project Manager, helping to build long-term, global partnerships between US-based corporations and World Vision in order to implement large-scale development projects in countries like Ethiopia and Mauritania.

Ben has lived and worked on the African continent for more than 20 years, having grown up in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso, where his parents and grandmother served as missionaries. Ben is a seven-year US Army veteran with two combat tours to Iraq and has served as a US government contractor supporting Department of Defense and Department of State projects.

Ben completed his undergraduate studies at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, and obtained his MBA and MA, focusing on International Relations, from Webster University in St. Louis.